


The sweetness of kinship

by frostysunflowers



Series: Of bright autumn days and things that go bump in the night [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Halloween, Nebula & Tony Stark Friendship, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 16:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20969240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostysunflowers/pseuds/frostysunflowers
Summary: A first experience of trick or treating leads to a moment of realisation for Nebula, while Tony suspects that his chances of getting any candy are slim to none.





	The sweetness of kinship

**Author's Note:**

> So I realised earlier that today is exactly six months on from when I posted my first story in the Irondad/Avengers fandom! It's gone so quick, madness! To celebrate, here is my fic for the trick or treat prompt from [hailingstars 13 nights of Halloween challenge!](https://hailing-stars.tumblr.com/post/187784838464/13-nights-of-halloween)
> 
> Please enjoy this gooey little fic <3

It’s nearing lunchtime and Tony’s in the middle of cobbling some sandwiches together when Nebula appears beside him. 

''I do not understand trick or treating.''

Tony looks up from the chopping board, a bemused smile curling on his lips. ''What?''

She holds a phone up to his face - Peter’s phone, he notices. A video is playing on the screen, featuring many small children dressed up in an assortment of adorable costumes and carrying overflowing buckets and bags of candy. Tony lifts his eyes to peer over at where Peter’s sitting on the couch, raising an eyebrow when Peter gives him a helpless shrug and a smile. 

''What’s confusing you about it? The costumes or the candy?''

Nebula tilts the phone to scowl at the video. ''Both.''

Tony chuckles and sweeps his hands against his jeans to remove the crumbs. ''Go and grab Morgan, would ya, Pete?'' he asks, pushing a large plate of turkey mayo sandwiches onto the kitchen table.

Nebula watches Peter head up the stairs. ''This...trick or treating...it’s a regular thing on Terra?''

Tony hummed thoughtfully. The whole concept of trick or treating had become a bit lost and forgotten during the first two years after the snap, and then once the world had adjusted somewhat, it was celebrated with tentative joy, as though kids walking around dressed as zombies and witches and wearing cheap plastic Iron Man masks would somehow invoke something terrible.

Like the worst hadn’t already happened.

Now, with the world back to the way it was, more or less, people are free to enjoy the simpler things like knocking on random people’s doors and brazenly demanding candy like it was going out of fashion.

''It happens once a year for Halloween.''

''Halloween?''

Tony smiles, feeling oddly endeared by how curious she seems. 

''People dress up in costume, kids go knocking on doors to ask for candy, the stores start overcharging for ridiculous things like monster flavoured chocolate.'' Tony pulls a face. He’d tried those candy bars and all he’d tasted was a suspiciously metallic flavour. So gross was it in fact that he'd wasted no time in  knocking Morgan’s bar out of her hand and offering her an entire family size bag of M&M’s as a peace offering when she’d nearly started to cry.

Nebula still looks sceptical. Tony motions for her to eat and takes a bite from his own sandwich.

''You could always tag along, you know,'' he says through the mouthful. ''Could be a good educational experience.''

Nebula stares at him for another moment and then focuses on her sandwich, blue fingers picking at the bread. 

''I don’t have a costume,'' she says eventually, tongue curling uncertainly around the last word. 

''Trust me, Nebs,'' Tony grins, giving her a wink. ''You'll be the belle of the ball. Besides,'' he adds as Morgan hurries down the stairs ahead of Peter, already half-dressed in her Princess Leia costume, ''I know a certain someone who would love if you joined us.''

Nebula glances at Morgan, softening visibly as the girl beams up at her, all gap toothed and jittery joy. Peter smiles at them,swishing the velvet cloak hanging from his shoulders in a dramatic whirl, baring a fanged grin at Tony. 

''Shut up and eat your sandwich,'' Tony orders, pushing the plate towards him. ''I’ll be damned if I let you eat nothing but candy today.''

Peter sticks his tongue out, removes the fang and takes a giant bite of the sandwich, chewing loud enough to make Tony grimace. 

''Brat.''

''Old man,'' Peter mumbles thickly. 

Tony points a finger at him. ''Keep it up and there’ll be no candy for any overgrown spider-boys tonight, capiche?''

''Daddy!'' Morgan bats him on the arm with her toy blaster. ''Don’t be mean.''

''Mean? I’m - '' Tony turns to look at Nebula. ''Can you believe this?'' he asks in outrage before looking back down at a giggling Morgan. ''Who raised you, huh? Who taught you to be this way?''

''You did!''

''Well, then,'' Tony hoists her up into his arms and blows a raspberry on her cheek, ''I guess I’ll have to forgive you, you little terror.''

''And let Peter have candy.''

''Ugh, fine,’’ Tony groans dramatically, smirk flashing over towards a grinning Peter, ''but only if he shares with me.''

''Fine. But the M&M’s are mine.''

Tony very nearly curses but Morgan claps a hand over his mouth and gives him a close up stare that has their noses touching. He pats her back after a moment and she removes her hand. 

''I’m glad you’re here, Bluebell,'' he says to Nebula, ''so you can witness the abuse that I suffer on an almost daily basis.''

Nebula looks over at Peter. ''Can I try the M&M’s?''

''Sure!''

Tony curses loudly then and finds himself on the receiving end of a blaster bop to the forehead. 

They drive into Queens later that afternoon, stopping to pick up an overexcited Ned on the way to one of the neighbourhoods that Peter deems suitable for the candy potential, and join the swarms of other sugar-hungry children making their way from door to door with their bags and buckets held expectantly aloft. 

It’s still early enough for the costumes to be on the far more wholesome side of things. They pass black cats and cute little skeletons and plenty of fairies and cowboys, as well as an impressive amount of mini Avengers. Tony can’t help but grin as he spots the look on Peter’s face when a knee-high Spider-Man toddles past, clutching the hand of what Tony assumes to be an older sibling wearing an Iron Man mask. 

They exchange a smile before Morgan grabs Peter and Ned by their hands and pulls them away to get a better look at the animatronic skeleton dangling from someone’s window, leaving Nebula and Tony walking slowly along after them. 

''So what do you think?'' he asks, grin growing wider as he studies the look of curiosity on her face. 

''It’s…'' Nebula’s dark eyes sweep around, picking up a sparkle from the streetlights and the glow of the many pumpkins littering the doorways. ''I’ve never seen something like this before.''

''Really? All those planets, all those crazy worlds, and you’ve never seen something like that?’’ Tony chuckles, pointing to where a kid dressed as a dinosaur is chasing Darth Vader down the street. 

''No, but based on Quill’s attire, I suspected that all terrans dressed strangely anyway.''

Tony throws his head back in a wild laugh and she smirks, clearly pleased with his reaction. He only laughs harder when someone calls out ''dude, that Tony Stark costume is _sick!''_

''Whoa,'' another voice pipes up, ''your costume is awesome, lady!''

The compliment is thrown out by what appears to be a red and green goblin hurrying past. Nebula stares after him or her in surprise, going ramrod still for a moment until Tony’s gentle nudge urges her forward again. 

A dusky blush fills her face moments later when two girls, dressed as witches, positively light up when they look up from their overflowing buckets and spot Nebula. 

''She’s so pretty!'' the smaller girl whispers loudly, nudging her friend who nods vigorously in agreement. ''She looks like the sea from my picture book.''

They beam sweetly up at Tony and Nebula as they skip through the middle of them, leaving Nebula to watch them go and Tony to watch Nebula. 

''They are not afraid of me.''

Tony cocks his head and softly says, ''You really expected them to be?''

Nebula’s eyes meet his and there’s all the vulnerability he knows so well, the hints of distrust left behind after so many years of a life without kindness or appreciation. 

''There’s nothing to be afraid of,'' Tony reassures, voice still soft. ''Right now, to these kids, you are an awesome looking woman who apparently resembles the ocean from a storybook.'' He shrugs and gives her a smile, the one that always makes the hunch of her shoulders loosen. ''You couldn’t scare anyone if you tried. Plus, you did help save the universe and all that jazz.''

He knows that she’ll get there one day; finally reach a place where all that once was really is nothing but a bad dream, the realness of it all pushed away by the happiness that exists now, the family that she has which stretches further than one tyrant, one purpose, one unhappy existence. 

For now though, he thinks that moments like this, where the world is warm and safe and enchanted with the magic of wonder and the thrill of chilly autumn nights, are good enough. Moments where he can look at her and see the very hardness of her morphing into something that it used to be, before merciless cruelty tore her apart and stuck her back together again without care. 

Moments where she can look back at him and know that there’s nothing to worry about, not anymore. 

And if he has to take her trick or treating a thousand times more, right up until his very last breath, he’ll damn well do it. 

She’s smiling at him now, that gentle uptilt that he’d first seen up in space that made his fractured heart pulse with something sharp and fierce, except now it’s a million times better. 

He wiggles his metal fingers at her, their little sign of solidarity and kinship, and he knows he’s achieved victory over the darkness in her thoughts as the blackness of her eyes flares a little warmer.

''Daddy! Look!''

Tony wobbles dramatically, like he’s about to faint, as Morgan runs over and holds up her pillowcase, barely managing to lift it from the ground for how full it already is. He looks at Peter who grins sheepishly at him and Tony immediately suspects that some of the candy within Morgan’s collection has jumped ship from Peter’s own haul. 

Ned’s shell backpack, part of his Ninja Turtle costume, also looks suspiciously light and Tony knows  _ exactly  _ who will be babysitting Morgan when the inevitable sugar high occurs. 

''C’mon, Cornflower,'' Tony says as Morgan drags the boys away again, ''before those little monsters ditch us. I sense candy-hoarding hi-jinks are about to occur and I’ll bet my left shoe that they won’t let me have a look in.''

Nebula smiles, reaches into her pocket and holds out two lollipops in the shape of a witch. Tony stops and a slow, proud grin spreads over his face as he meets her gaze. 

''Sneaky,'' he praises and plucks one to stick into his mouth. 

''It’s only to shut you up,'' she says, taking a tentative lick of her own, humming appreciatively at the sweet taste. 

''You’ve been spending too much time with Peter and Morgan,'' Tony grumbles, words slurring around the lollipop. ''And Pepper. All of you, out to get me.''

''I thought you said there was no such thing as too much time.''

''That’s true,'' Tony affirms, voice going croaky as it always does when the emotions touch too close to home. He hooks an arm around her shoulder and she automatically tilts into the contact. ''Oo, look! A smurf! Come along, Bluebell, your education on all things important on Earth continues.''

A year later, when Nebula knocks on his door, wearing a pointed white hat and carrying what looks like one of Morgan’s old backpacks and smugly says ‘’Trick or treat,’’ Tony nearly passes out with glee. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even like the smurfs but Nebula trying to dress up as Smurfette just makes me laugh. Oh man that was sickly sweet with fluff; can you tell that I love them all?!
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
